Nobody's Fool (1994)

IMDb plot summary: A stubborn man past his prime reflects on his life of strict independence and seeks more from himself.

Directed by Robert Benton. Starring Paul Newman, Jessica Tandy, Bruce Willis, and Melanie Griffith.

When this movie works, it works because Paul Newman is off-the-chart charismatic and you can kind of sort of see how he'd be able to get away with the things he does and still be at least moderately liked by his neighbors. On the page, this character is awful, but when Newman says those lines, you kind of get it. He's also able to portray those subtle moments of change that make me believe his character has actually grown at the end. It's hard to tell whether this would have worked at all without such an accomplished actor in the role, but I'm leaning toward no. This is a very meandering script, and you need someone helming it who is a pleasure to be with, and Newman fits that to a tee. This might not make it into my yearly holiday movie rotation, but it's a sweet movie held together by an incredible performance.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Nobody's Fool > Dogtooth

Nobody's Fool < Hoop Dreams

Nobody's Fool > Hoosiers

Nobody's Fool < The Polka King

Nobody's Fool < Inherit the Wind

Nobody's Fool < The Impossible

Nobody's Fool > Hereditary

Nobody's Fool > Creation

Nobody's Fool > Begin Again

Nobody's Fool > Dan in Real Life

Nobody's Fool < All That Jazz

Final spot: #1184 out of 3287, or 64%.